It's been 3 years since she was cast, so let's tackle one of Doctor Who fans' laziest criticisms: that Jodie Whittaker doesn't have a unique take on the character. https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/886608420241117185

The moment where 13 "clicked" for me was that anti-matter scene in (the weirdly maligned) Tsuranga Conundrum. Now, tbh, it's an awful scene. There's nothing an actor can latch onto.

But Whittaker's line reading is super unusual. She acts like she wants to snog the tech to death.

Loads of Doctors geek out. But rarely like this. 13 acts like every thing, every place, and every one is the most exciting thing she's ever seen. ("Ahh!! It's the Kerblam man!") So my oversimplified read of Whittaker's performance is:

She's just endearingly earnest.

I argued in this Tor piece that "Whittaker seems to be the first Doctor who travels utterly joyfully." I got flak for that, but I stand by it.

Sure, they all enjoy it. Some wanna impress. Others are addicted, depressed, on the run, or forever on holiday. https://www.tor.com/2020/03/09/doctor-whos-false-gods-and-cyber-zealots-face-a-devout-doctor/

But I adore how *intrinsic* 13's love of traveling is, how *earnest* her Doctor always is. She's not Tom lounging on Brighton Beach, or Tennant showing off to hide The Pain. Whittaker acts like she's always on that first day of vacation.

You get the sense Jodie's thought process was just, "Now, if I could travel anywhere in time and space... well, that'd be BRILLIANT, wouldn't it?!"

Because that love of adventure—which we've mostly gotten via companions as audience surrogates—is now displaced onto to the Doctor.

But instead you hear: She's a Tennant clone! Or a Matt Smith clone! Even though those are very different things! Or maybe she's just bland, like Davison, except that was dumb when people called him that too.

And look, I really do think there's some in-built sexism there.

The whole NotMyDoctor shtick boils down to: "She's not REALLY the Doctor. She's just a ladycreature IMITATING the REAL Doctor."

So when you willfully ignore what she's doing with the part, and claim she's riding off her male predecessors' ideas... uhh, that's a bad look.

Obviously, it's OK not to like Whittaker's portrayal. I'm not saying her take *has* to work for you. But she *does* have a take. And 3 years on, I think enough time's passed that we can start thinking seriously about what that take is.